Wednesday, April 09, 2014

WA Shark Cull - three more years?


I must say that I'm totally surprised.

I thought this was it.
World on the street had it that the WA gov't had totally underestimated the push back against the Shark cull, and that they were going to silently bow out by not asking for a renewal of the federal exemption beyond this April.

Not so.
It now turns out that they want to extend the cull until 2017, which is simply a travesty - the only "good news" in this total fiasco being that the WA EPA is asking for comments from the public.

So there.
I trust you know where you stand on this - but just in case, a) this policy is a waste of resources as culling has been shown not to work with highly migratory species like Tigers and GWS, b) there are better alternatives to reduce the risk and address the concerns of the public, c) removing apex predators such as those large Sharks can have deleterious consequences for the marine environment (which is likely the only argument that will sway the EPA), d) this is a regional issue as the cull will impact the thriving Shark diving business in SA that shares the same GWS, e) such an indiscriminate killing rampage is an ethical abomination.

Relevant page here, form here.
The comments period is short, ie only til April 16 - and the only question asked is whether they should assess the cull, the answer being YES meaning that you should tick .

As a reminder.
Inform yourself before commenting and refrain from inflammatory language - remember you want them to do something positive, and they will not be amenable to your request if you call them names!

NGOs: guidance please!

PS: SOS recommendations here - they suggest to tick . Not convinced, but they have posted a list of good arguments against the cull. 

5 comments:

Vee said...

WTF (sorry, didn't mean to use this kind of language), but WA government just keeps doing how they please it seems, soo many people signed petitions, wrote letters, attended a protest, ... and still this stupid cull just keeps lingering :-(

DaShark said...

On this blog you can WTF as much as you like! :)

This was never gonna be a walk in the park.
NSW and Qld have been using drum lines and Shark nets for decades, and nobody has squeaked - so the gov't of WA will not be swayed that easily, the more as some of the extremist quarters within the "movement" have already fatally poisoned the discourse. This issue has been lingering for years, with both the scientific and conservation community adding zero practical solutions apart from screaming "don't touch the Sharks, it's their ocean and you are intruding" and the like - hardly the right arguments for assuaging the concerns of the public.

The way I see it, the cull was not a rational but rather, a political decision and now that the shit has hit the fan, it will take time and perseverance to make it go away.

There is now a "process" for the public to ask for an assessment, and my recommendation is to participate - respectfully.
I cannot but warn against posting idiotic inflammatory comments like those of the prez of the SRI as they are not helping but instead, an obstacle to ever reaching a stage where both sides can engage in meaningful dialogue.

OfficetoOcean said...

Call me a deluded cynic but might the very public protestations of people over the shark cull actually benefit the government in that, whilst the media and social media are battling with the government on the cull, it provides a handy distraction from what they are planning to do regarding drilling on the Great Barrier Reef?

Sharks are an easy way to divide opinion so if everyone is concentrating on an issue which is very difficult to sell to the general public, they can stop the general public really being outraged by something they would all go sharkshit mental about? They can bury the drilling under the daily debates about the cull in other words and just go about their business destroying the GBR for cash without anyone batting an eyelid.

DaShark said...

David, I just don't think that coming up with some completely undocumented conspiracy theory is gonna be helpful in resolving this particular issue?

And, the gov't in question here is that of WA, and the GBR is in Qld?

OfficetoOcean said...

Like I said, a deluded cynic :D